DJ Khaled Teams With Bang & Olufsen On Headphone Line

Inspired by the success of Dr. Dre and others, DJ Khaled has struck a deal to launch a headphone with Bang & Olufsen.

DJ Khaled has long been fixated on superlatives. His discography includes album titles like We the Best, Victory and We the Best Forever; his record label is called We the Best Music Group; one of his most popular tracks is dubbed “All I Do Is Win.”

That attitude pervades his approach to his latest venture as well: his own headphone line. A collaboration between Khaled, Bang & Olufsen and Heads Innovation, the product will be launched this fall under the B&O Play H6 name.

“The collaboration with Heads Innovation and DJ Khaled gives an extra dimension to our product portfolio, and we see it as a win/win situation,” added Henrik Taudorf Lorensen, Vice President of B&O Play, in a statement.

The move makes Khaled the latest in a long line of hip-hop entrepreneurs to try their hand in a headphone business that started to heat up after Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine founded Beats back in 2008.

Not even the most ambitious entrepreneur could have envisioned what would happen over the next half-decade: within a couple of years, Beats was racking up hundreds of millions in revenues; last month, AppleApple bought the company for $3 billion.

“That’s a powerful mogul,” says Khaled of Dr. Dre. “What he did was break down a lot of doors and inspire young moguls like myself to make music as well as getting into the electronics business. It’s a blessing. You have to salute him.”

Khaled, of course, is entering a crowded marketplace. In addition to Beats, there’s 50 Cent’s SMSSMS Audio, Soul by Ludacris, Jay Z’s Roc Nation Aviators and a host of others. Though many of these products have garnered plenty of press, none of them have been able to gain more than a single-digit share of a multibillion-dollar premium headphone market dominated by Beats.

Working with Khaled is part of a shift in strategy for the venerable Bang & Olufsen, which has approached celebrity-branded headphones with caution throughout the recent craze. B&O billed the collaboration as the first in “a series of customized product collections featuring top artists.”

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